Biography
Though Eric Weissberg earned enduring recognition as a one-hit wonder thanks to the 1973 chart-topping smash “Dueling Banjos,” that single success represented merely a minor chapter in his decades-long studio career. A master of ten instruments—acoustic and electric bass, guitar, fiddle, banjo, kazoo, mandolin, pedal steel, Dobro, and jew’s harp—the musician backed an extensive roster of folk-pop figures such as Judy Collins, Jim Croce, John Denver, Bob Dylan, Art Garfunkel, Richie Havens, Ian & Sylvia, Melanie, Tom Paxton, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Doc Watson, plus mainstream pop and rock acts including Burt Bacharach, David Byrne, Billy Joel, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, and Talking Heads, and jazz artists like Bob James, Earl Klugh, and Herbie Mann, beginning in the late ’50s and continuing actively through the close of the century.
Following studies at the University of Wisconsin and the Juilliard School of Music, Weissberg joined a circle of young New York players drawn to old-time country and bluegrass during the late ’50s; they convened for Sunday afternoon sessions in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a group that also featured Stefan Grossman, Roger Sprung, Bob Yellin, David Grisman, and Marshall Brickman. In 1958 Weissberg, Yellin, and singer/guitarist John Herald launched the Greenbriar Boys, among the first ensembles to appear at Gerde’s Folk City, yet Weissberg departed after roughly a year. He performed at the Newport Folk Festival that same summer and secured initial session credits on releases by Tommy Makem and Cisco Houston. In 1963 he and Brickman cut the duo album New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass for Elektra Records.
Throughout the ’60s Weissberg served as a later member of the folk ensemble the Tarriers alongside Brickman, Clarence Cooper, and Bob Carey, contributing to the group’s final Decca release, the live album The Tarriers recorded at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. He also belonged to the Blue Velvet Band with Jim Rooney, Richard Greene, and Bill Keith, whose 1969 Warner Bros. album Sweet Moments appeared that year. In 1967 he gave the world premiere of Earl Robinson’s “Concerto for Five-String Banjo” with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Symphony. Session work nevertheless occupied most of his schedule; between 1964 and 1969 he played on albums by Ian & Sylvia, Judy Collins, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Doc Watson, Country Joe McDonald, Jim Croce, and John Denver, among others. The early ’70s proved equally packed, with appearances on records by Herbie Mann, John Denver, Country Joe McDonald, Melanie, Sha Na Na, Barbra Streisand, and Loudon Wainwright III.
Additional session calls led Weissberg to record for a film soundtrack tied to Southern poet James Dickey’s best-selling novel Deliverance, whose screen adaptation followed a group of suburbanites whose woodland hunting excursion yields unforeseen results. After hearing an old banjo tune on the radio, Dickey incorporated the idea into a scene in which a character communicates with a mute country boy through a banjo/guitar duet; Weissberg recruited Steve Mandell, and the pair traveled to Atlanta to supervise the actors’ miming. They heard nothing further until Warner Bros. issued the film in fall 1972 and the track, retitled “Dueling Banjos,” generated such demand that the label released the Weissberg/Mandell version as a single—without notifying Weissberg—and some early pressings even credited the performance to Deliverance. The piece proved to be Arthur Smith’s “Feuding Banjos,” first recorded for MGM Records in 1955, rather than a traditional number. Once the single entered the charts in January 1973 and climbed, Warner Bros., having absorbed Elektra, retrieved the decade-old Weissberg/Brickman album New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, substituted “Dueling Banjos” and its B-side “End of a Dream” for the opening tracks on each side, and reissued it as Dueling Banjos from the Original Soundtrack Deliverance, again without prior notice to Weissberg.
Both the single and album reached number one and earned gold certification; the single also topped the easy-listening chart and reached the country Top Five, while the album led the country chart. The following year Weissberg and Mandell received the Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Weissberg formed a touring band called Deliverance featuring Mandell, Charlie Brown, Tony Brown, and Richard Crooks, playing clubs and halls. After reconciling with Warner Bros. he signed a contract and cut Rural Free Delivery, which charted briefly in fall 1973. The group persisted briefly, and a revival of “Yakety Yak” appeared on the lower country chart in spring 1975 on Epic Records, yet the success remained an anomaly, returning Weissberg primarily to session work.
He had never truly stepped away from that work. Between 1973 and 1975 he appeared on albums by Judy Collins, Jim Croce, John Denver, Richie Havens, Billy Joel, B.J. Thomas, Bob James, Willie Nelson, and Esther Phillips, among others, and accepted an invitation from Bob Dylan to contribute to Blood on the Tracks. Through the remainder of the decade his clients included Blood, Sweat & Tears, John Denver, Bette Midler, Dory Previn, the Starland Vocal Band, Loudon Wainwright III, Burt Bacharach, Leon Redbone, and Tom Paxton. A notable project was Jean Ritchie’s None But One (1977), on which Weissberg assembled the backing band; Rolling Stone named the LP Best Folk Album of the Year.
Activity appeared lighter in the early ’80s, yet the second half of the decade found him on albums by Leon Redbone, Talking Heads, Aztec Two-Step, Art Garfunkel, Earl Klugh, Jude Cole, Peter, Paul & Mary, David Byrne, and Anita Carter. The early ’90s brought more selective sessions, including dates with Bill Keith, Doc Severinsen, Judy Collins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Robert James Waller, and Tom Chapin. By the mid-’90s he began regular touring as a sideman for Art Garfunkel, who incorporated “Dueling Banjos” into the sets, while still accepting occasional studio work such as Nanci Griffith’s Other Voices, Too (1998), Bette Midler’s Bathhouse Betty (1998), the original Broadway cast album for The Civil War (1999), Tom Chapin’s This Pretty Planet (2000), and Judy Collins’ Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2000).
Following studies at the University of Wisconsin and the Juilliard School of Music, Weissberg joined a circle of young New York players drawn to old-time country and bluegrass during the late ’50s; they convened for Sunday afternoon sessions in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a group that also featured Stefan Grossman, Roger Sprung, Bob Yellin, David Grisman, and Marshall Brickman. In 1958 Weissberg, Yellin, and singer/guitarist John Herald launched the Greenbriar Boys, among the first ensembles to appear at Gerde’s Folk City, yet Weissberg departed after roughly a year. He performed at the Newport Folk Festival that same summer and secured initial session credits on releases by Tommy Makem and Cisco Houston. In 1963 he and Brickman cut the duo album New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass for Elektra Records.
Throughout the ’60s Weissberg served as a later member of the folk ensemble the Tarriers alongside Brickman, Clarence Cooper, and Bob Carey, contributing to the group’s final Decca release, the live album The Tarriers recorded at the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. He also belonged to the Blue Velvet Band with Jim Rooney, Richard Greene, and Bill Keith, whose 1969 Warner Bros. album Sweet Moments appeared that year. In 1967 he gave the world premiere of Earl Robinson’s “Concerto for Five-String Banjo” with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Symphony. Session work nevertheless occupied most of his schedule; between 1964 and 1969 he played on albums by Ian & Sylvia, Judy Collins, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Doc Watson, Country Joe McDonald, Jim Croce, and John Denver, among others. The early ’70s proved equally packed, with appearances on records by Herbie Mann, John Denver, Country Joe McDonald, Melanie, Sha Na Na, Barbra Streisand, and Loudon Wainwright III.
Additional session calls led Weissberg to record for a film soundtrack tied to Southern poet James Dickey’s best-selling novel Deliverance, whose screen adaptation followed a group of suburbanites whose woodland hunting excursion yields unforeseen results. After hearing an old banjo tune on the radio, Dickey incorporated the idea into a scene in which a character communicates with a mute country boy through a banjo/guitar duet; Weissberg recruited Steve Mandell, and the pair traveled to Atlanta to supervise the actors’ miming. They heard nothing further until Warner Bros. issued the film in fall 1972 and the track, retitled “Dueling Banjos,” generated such demand that the label released the Weissberg/Mandell version as a single—without notifying Weissberg—and some early pressings even credited the performance to Deliverance. The piece proved to be Arthur Smith’s “Feuding Banjos,” first recorded for MGM Records in 1955, rather than a traditional number. Once the single entered the charts in January 1973 and climbed, Warner Bros., having absorbed Elektra, retrieved the decade-old Weissberg/Brickman album New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, substituted “Dueling Banjos” and its B-side “End of a Dream” for the opening tracks on each side, and reissued it as Dueling Banjos from the Original Soundtrack Deliverance, again without prior notice to Weissberg.
Both the single and album reached number one and earned gold certification; the single also topped the easy-listening chart and reached the country Top Five, while the album led the country chart. The following year Weissberg and Mandell received the Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Weissberg formed a touring band called Deliverance featuring Mandell, Charlie Brown, Tony Brown, and Richard Crooks, playing clubs and halls. After reconciling with Warner Bros. he signed a contract and cut Rural Free Delivery, which charted briefly in fall 1973. The group persisted briefly, and a revival of “Yakety Yak” appeared on the lower country chart in spring 1975 on Epic Records, yet the success remained an anomaly, returning Weissberg primarily to session work.
He had never truly stepped away from that work. Between 1973 and 1975 he appeared on albums by Judy Collins, Jim Croce, John Denver, Richie Havens, Billy Joel, B.J. Thomas, Bob James, Willie Nelson, and Esther Phillips, among others, and accepted an invitation from Bob Dylan to contribute to Blood on the Tracks. Through the remainder of the decade his clients included Blood, Sweat & Tears, John Denver, Bette Midler, Dory Previn, the Starland Vocal Band, Loudon Wainwright III, Burt Bacharach, Leon Redbone, and Tom Paxton. A notable project was Jean Ritchie’s None But One (1977), on which Weissberg assembled the backing band; Rolling Stone named the LP Best Folk Album of the Year.
Activity appeared lighter in the early ’80s, yet the second half of the decade found him on albums by Leon Redbone, Talking Heads, Aztec Two-Step, Art Garfunkel, Earl Klugh, Jude Cole, Peter, Paul & Mary, David Byrne, and Anita Carter. The early ’90s brought more selective sessions, including dates with Bill Keith, Doc Severinsen, Judy Collins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Robert James Waller, and Tom Chapin. By the mid-’90s he began regular touring as a sideman for Art Garfunkel, who incorporated “Dueling Banjos” into the sets, while still accepting occasional studio work such as Nanci Griffith’s Other Voices, Too (1998), Bette Midler’s Bathhouse Betty (1998), the original Broadway cast album for The Civil War (1999), Tom Chapin’s This Pretty Planet (2000), and Judy Collins’ Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2000).
Albums
